The Children Act

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of sexual content, illness, and death.

Fiona Maye is the main character, or protagonist, of The Children Act. Throughout the novel, the third-person narration is limited to Fiona’s consciousness; this means that the entirety of the narrative plot line and world is filtered through Fiona’s mind. All the narrative conflicts, moods, and themes originate from her distinct experience of reality. In particular, because Fiona is a High Court judge, the narrative revolves around legal cases and issues. The narrative preoccupation with the British judicial system parallels Fiona’s own preoccupation with it. 

Although Fiona believes that she’s skilled at keeping her personal and professional lives separate, she sees her legal work through her personal biases and regards her personal conflicts via her legal perspective. She believes that, much like the conjoined twins Matthew and Mark, her personal and professional lives cannot coexist; if she separates one from the other, at least one will have the chance of surviving. For Fiona, this has meant ignoring her dreams of having a family and shirking her investment in her marriage in order to pursue professional advancement.